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Fast-Food Ads Aimed at Kids Focus on Toys, Not Food (Philly.com)

August 30, 2013

According to a new study led by James Sargent, a professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine and co-director of the Cancer Control Program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, fast food television advertisements aimed at children focus more on toys, movies, and giveaways than on food, reports HealthDay.

The study’s authors write, “Given health concerns about obesity and its relation to fast-food consumption, enhanced oversight of fast-food marketing to children at the local, state, and federal level is needed to align advertising to children with health promotion efforts and existing principles of honest and fair marketing to children,” the article notes.

Sargent and his research team examined TV ads appearing on networks such as Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network. They found that nearly 70 percent of the advertisements targeted at children included free toys or other giveaways, reports HealthDay.